The Life and Times of Stigand Fraener: My life as a Nobody
by G-fan4life
Summary: So as any experienced Elder Scrolls play will tell you that there are a large amount of "normal", everyday people you simply live. Now What would happen if I attempted to do the same? MAKE SURE that you read the rules, which will be the first entry. Let me know how I can improve this or if I should simply stop. Day 2 and 3 added, read and review please
1. Rules and Introduction

**Intro:**

Alright, so I know I am not the first to do this (I believe the first goes to the fellow at PC Gamer that did the article called "The Elder Strolls" (Link: tag/the-elder-strolls/ , take a look at it). I will follow a similar mindset and rules. Those rules will be listed below. If you are not aware of what this is it is a style of playing the game Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in a way where one throws off the burden of being the _hero _ or _adventurer_ and simply lives in the vast world that is provided by the developers.

Here are the rules:

**1) **I will attempt to avoid quests and anything adventurous as much as I can (Save for hunting/ stumbling upon Skyrim's many/unending dangers)

**2) **I will eat at the very least two meals per day and sleep 8 hours a night in a bed (bed roll)

**3) **Dead is Dead, so no reloading a save game. So once he is dead I can't return and will erase the file. (this applies to the way I play too (Ex: getting caught breaking the law, stumbling onto something I _can't_ handle)

**4) **NO fast travel, I have to huff it all the way to where I am going. A slow jog or walk, but I won't be sprinting everywhere; this will only be if a hunted animal is fleeing (like a fox or deer) or I am in combat.

**5) **Difficulty is on _Master _for the added danger

**6) **I won't max out skills in tutorial (allowing the NPC partners to fight most of the time) and will empty my pack after. I will keep a Longbow, 15 arrows (I'm really bad with the bow) and the Rags on me back and feet.

**7) **Clothing and Armor that I take from bandits will not be kept (look we all have different sizes in clothing so it applies here as well), but I will sell them. To get new clothes or armor I will need to either by some in shops or craft them myself.

**8) **I will wear appropriate attire for the situation I am in (Rain I will wear a hat, in town clothing not armor, cold I will wear the warmest outfit I have if it isn't armor then so be it, swimming I will strip down to my scibbies, etc.)

**9) **I will be a honorable person. If I witness someone killed either defending another (or me) I won't loot their corpse, but those who attack me are fair game.

Pretty much I will attempt to live in a town and eventually own a home and have a craft or two, whatever it takes to make some coin and survive.

Now let us introduce out her….Errr. Our chara… Our … Guy

Skyrim would have you believe that he, Stigand Fraener. First off he is a true son of Skyrim (so an actual nord), but that doesn't mean he will be running off to join the Stormcloaks. He is a true son of Skyrim meaning he will _actually _live in Skyrim , the land will provide, the animals will feed him, and he will simply… be. That being said, he is a pretty scrawny guy, with messy auburn hair and an almost goofy 'stache that hangs down around his chin, which is bare.


	2. 1st Day: Shaky Beginnings

**1****st**** Day: Shaky Beginnings **

After a rather nasty and terrifying experience in Helgen, I started heading south-west through some rocky terrain and a thicket of trees. My destination: Falkreath. I didn't know much about this place, but it was the closest "Hold" and I hoped that it would be my best place to fit in. I left some guy called himself a Stormcloak and wanted me to join him in some war that was going on, I didn't really pay attention. But I did appreciate his help in escaping that nasty business in Helgen, maybe it is better now. I decide against going back there and continue on my track toward Falkreath. It's a rather long walk and the terrain was rough, at least until I hit a road.

"Great! I know this will lead me to civilization!"

I follow the road for a few minutes, not seeing anything eventful except for a few flowers that I gather. Eventually, I see a wooden bridge stretching over the road. I stop and look at the structure. The bridge stretched across a gully that the road drops in and then continues further into a forest. I continue walking again and pass under the bridge. Before I know it I'm being shot at by a bandit on the bridge (how did I not see him?) and he wasn't alone, another bandit joined him on the bridge before making his way down from the perch they had built.

I, being the ever brave and resourceful adventurer that I am, bravely turn back around and quickly run away, further down the road trying to reach Falkreath. I glance over my shoulder time and again to make sure they are still either on top of the structure or if they are chasing me. I get hit once with an arrow in the side. Somehow I continue running as if it didn't happen. I spot a group of three people walking towards me. I panic and jump into the bushes and try to hide and avoid the incoming arrow fire.

GREAT, not even a full day in Skyrim and I'm being pinned in on two sides, this will be a really short series. I've been in situations like this before, but usually with a well-armed and armored hero. I'm stuck with just raggedy old Stigand.

I breathe a sigh of relief when I recognize that the group approaching is made up of three Thalmor. What are the odds? As I was fleeing they came walking in towards me. I ducked behind a full tree letting the Thalmor see me while I was avoiding arrow fire.

The Thalmor charge in and start fighting the bandits. Thank Talos for these Thalmor guys, they couldn't possibly be causing trouble here in Skyrim.

For those that don't already know, the Thalmor are agents of the second Almeri Dominion. This is an alliance of both the high and the wood elf regents, based on elven racial supremacy (I've heard them called Nazi Elves before, but I don't really draw the similarities). They are usually not inclined to attack you unless you attack them, OR your bandit scum!

They make short work of the bandits; I fire one arrow too, to at least make an attempt to help my new allies. I was glad to have the help. I had already had enough excitement for a lifetime and a bandit fight was something I had hoped to avoid, at least for the time being. I stripped those foolish bandits of their items armor and all. Now according to Rule 7 I cannot wear the armor that I scrounge from the bandits. I take a hat (which I find to be an exception to the rule, well because it's a hat), a circular one lined with fur. I also take some fur boots from them, these looking as if tied together by one or two strings (I make an exception to the rule here as well, mostly because there is snow on the ground here and there and because they are made of skin and look to be adjustable… Look it's a stretch I know!). The boots will do at least until I craft some new ones. At any rate the hair on my toes was not keeping the Skyrim chill away.

After finishing the trek to Falkreath I enter the quiet "town", I thought it best to reacquaint myself with the town's layout before trying anything. It's a depressing and dreary place, the fog and sprinkles not helping, so much so that the "bragging point" of this place is a large graveyard.

"It's the oldest in Skyrim!" OH BOY! Let's hope Stigand doesn't become a part of it!

I run into a service taking place in the graveyard, I wait for it to end and approach the man who had been listening to the priest. His name was Mathies. Mathies had just lost his daughter. He then tells me that she was murdered, torn apart by some stranger who is now locked up.

I'm not five minutes into the town when Skyrim starts to thrust a quest onto me. Mathies thinks I should go talk to the guy.

NO WAY! Look I don't mean to be rude here, but… If this guy tore your daughter apart and is a crazed murderer then I really don't want Stigand to wander anywhere near this luny. I quietly walk away as Mathies is talking to me; I mean I'm not a guard I can't deal with a murder or a murderer… Wait… Are the guards hiring?

I need a job.

After talking with my first citizen, I realize it is late afternoon. I stop and eat a mixture of flowers I had picked on the way here. It didn't seem to be like a good idea, but I didn't have enough money to get some decent food and I look at it as a salad. At least it is "healthy" right? I also eat some of the Rock Wabbler (some kind of bird) eggs that I had picked up, yum yum protein.

After this _delicious _meal I walk the perimeter of the cemetery "cleaning up" all the weeds, flowers, and mushrooms I could find. I them proceeded to shove everything I had into my pockets, of course. After this I stroll to the top of a hill overlooking Falkreath (mostly the cemetery). I was hoping to see the size and the potentiality that this place could be my new home.

I spot an iron ore vein nearby and smile. That would be useful if I had a pickaxe to chip out the iron. It's getting late, its 8:53 pm, I can't see anything except drizzle. It isn't long before the creeping darkness, the rain, and the rather loud locusts drive me back into town.

I walk along and come across a chopping block and investigate it, I completely forgot that one of the bandits had a woodcutter's axe and I am shocked when Stigand starts hacking a small log.

Thank you, Skyrim for helping avoid adventure all together! I'm not even trying and your giving me what I will need.

I gather a few pieces of firewood, enough to somehow make my longbow stronger (How am I carrying all this stuff? Seriously, my pockets must be huge). After I improve my bow, which I'm still clueless about how I did it, I head to the Inn. It's late and I'm starving. I stop by the general store, I am short on money, but with Stigand's luck it is closed for the night.

After selling some useless things the bandits had been carrying to the innkeeper, I buy some bread and mead. "I am a TRUE SON OF SKYRIM!"

And even have enough coin to pick up a room for the night. Thank Talos for those Thalmor. If it wasn't for them I wouldn't even still be writing and I wouldn't have a nice bed for the night. I enter my room (there is no door) and am shocked to see that there is a pile of gold just sitting on the end table. HAHA nice try Skyrim, you want me to steal that don't you. WELL NPC's don't steal from each other (usually) so Stigand will not be doing that. The one thing that the gold brings into question is if you have enough gold to leave lying in the rooms you are renting out why don't you, oh I don't know… BUY A DOOR!

I sit in my chair, in my room listening to the NPC's outside. There is bard singing about some guy in red and banging on a drum ever so often. Every once in a while I hear a woman speak about some drinks or something. I don't care I had a good day. I managed to make it to Falkreath, eat twice today, let a group of guys do my fighting, take a bunch of dead guys' stuff, pick some fungus and flowers, and even find the layout of my new stomping ground. It may be a dreary and boring place, but it is my temporary home.

I go to bed around 11:00 hopeful for tomorrow, when I can sell the bandit Items and have enough coin to (at the very least) make it through the next day. I sleep for eight hours and am eager for the next day.


	3. 2nd Day: Fall in with the Dead Men

**Day 2: Fall with the Dead Men**

I wake up early and make another salad from the remaining flowers, this time throwing some of my mushrooms in there for good measure. Once I have finished this I step back out into the early morning darkness in Falkreath, who I am kidding it always looks like this to me. I leave the Dead Man's Drink in search of some work and more importantly coin.

Of course, it is still early and the shops are still locked tight from the previous night. I turn around and head back into the inn. In the corner I see an alchemist's table, a bit strange that there is a place to make poisons in a place where people sleep and eat right next to it. I use what is left of my mushrooms and make two poisons, I immediately want to sell them and get the little coin they would bring in. I quickly shove them into my pockets along with all the other loot that is burning a hole in my rags.

I head back outside to the chopping block I used last night. Of course it is taken by some old guy. I immediately start talking with him, trying to tell him to hurry up. He blabbers on about some funeral he just did and a pyre and what not. Then without realizing it I accept to take the ashes he had gathered from the pyre to a priest.

CRAP! I've initiated a quest! Curse you Skyrim!

What's great about this is the older fellow shoved his buddy's dead ashes into my pants! THANKS A LOT! Not the kind of thing I would ever want to happen.

I quickly check my map and find that the priest resides inside of the town, in the cemetery (that's not weird at all). I decide that this little "quest" isn't really exciting or dangerous, so Stigand can go along with it. I've got to be more careful.

I was anxious to empty my pockets at the shop. I checked the door again, still locked. I then immediately turn around and head towards the cemetery. This isn't going well at all. Skyrim has tricked me into letting Stigand go on a quest and I REALLY want to empty my pack!

I walk the trail to the cemetery. I arrive at the little cottage, only to find (through the use of the little marker on the screen) the priest was not inside. I head back outside and wisely head back to the inn. The priest was apparently inside. He must be getting s_lobbered_ instead of doing his priestly duties.

Head back into Dead Man's Drink and find the guy. OF COURSE, he is downing a few glasses of mead. Yea this is the guy I want handling my loved one's remains.

I talk to him about the dead guy's ashes and he accepts the ashes, which he too stuffs into his pockets. He politely thanks me and hands me a whopping 250 gold!

Alright I lied, Falkreath is looking up! I've been up for little over an hour and I've made a large sum of cash, all I had to do (in theory not in how I actually did it) was walk a few feet hand over something shoved down my pants, and get paid. People hear must be very lazy, paying someone to take ashes about twenty feet.

I smile and turn right around without even a "your welcome." I head to the blacksmith first and sell the weaponry and armor the bandits had. I decide to keep a light imperial shield that was on the table near the bandits' bodies, my shoes, and my own longbow and arrows.

I then sell a bandit ring and the potions I made, not gaining very much. I then sell my rags and purchase a black robe and a nice round furry hat. I immediately put these on. I've taken to calling the hat my "bandit hat" in honor of how I got my money.

I've made about 300 Septims today, so I'm thinking about taking it easy. I head back to the inn and purchase all the food that the inn keeper has. No harm in stocking up for the next couple of days. I seat down have an apple, some bread, and some mead. It had been a good day, a short day, an easy day, but still a very good day. I listen to the bard sing poorly for a few hours then purchase the room again.

I head to my room, drink another bottle of mead, and get into bed.


	4. 3rd Day: Call me the Lumberjack

**Day 3: Call me the Lumberjack**

I wake up a little early, as a habit I have made. I am immediately greeted by an attractive young woman walking into my room.

How rude! Not even a "Housekeeping!" to announce your presence?

She isn't wearing all that much for cold old Skyrim and she then seats in my rented chair. I approach her and she immediately shouts about there being a handsome man in Falkreath. HEY HEY! Things are looking really up! I'm already getting the ladies, must be my smexy bandit hat.

Of course I try talking to her and perhaps pursuing the relationship further, but of course she just tries to sell me some mead. Hey lady, I like mead as well as the next Nord, but COME ON!

I head out the inn, its usual drunken populace lounging about the lobby (the priest included); it's another dreary, rainy day in Falkreath. I eat an apple and some bread again on the doorsteps of the inn, then head over to the chopping block. I start hacking away at those small logs that someone hauled and stacked instead of chopped.

As I am hacking away I determine that if I am to start hunting and gathering in the nearby area, I will need enough coin to purchase a set of armor, or forge it, and some more arrows and a sword or hand-axe. I cannot simply keep chopping otherwise what's the point of doing this style play through? Plus, it's really boring watching Stigand chop away, even if he is wearing his purdy hat.

I had walked to the mill looking to sell the firewood at a much faster rate, but for some reason the miller wouldn't pay me to chop the wood. After chopping for about two hours (game-time mind you) I head to the general store, sell the wood and purchase some hides to make my armor that I would wear.

As I hack away I think about what I am to do, I am growing weary of passing time in the dreary little _hold_. I think back to the woman who woke me up and called me handsome, maybe I could marry her. But, why would anyone find Stigand attractive? He has a nasty hanging 'stache. I quickly forget about that lead. I even strike an idea. THE IRON ORE, from my first day in Falkreath. I could buy a pickaxe and start gathering ore then making stuff. I head to the general store, sell the wood that I was carrying and look for a pickaxe… OF COURSE, there isn't one.

After a meager lunch I head back to the blacksmith, hoping to craft some armor and find a pickaxe. I make a rudimentary set of hide armor and couldn't find a pickaxe. I then head back to the chopping block, might as well scrape as many coins as I can right?

It starts raining in dreary old Falkreath and I am thankful of my purdy bandit hat that makes me so darn handsome. As I am hacking away I wonder who it had been that piled these little blocks of wood and didn't finish the job. Then I remember that old guy and how lazy he was, I assume that that's just the way it is here in dreary old Falkreath, everyone _so darn_ lazy.

The hours DRAG by as I hack away at those blocks. All I have to help pass the time is the music that plays in my head, with an annoying trumpet being more prominent. Seriously, who is playing that?!

I stroll to the general store sell my firewood and then head to the inn. I eat a supper of cold beef, bread, and some mead. I then rent my room again and head to my chair. I sit waiting and listening as I always do. I even drink another bottle of mead, pleased at my haul of the day. I am sitting at 359 septims.

I then head to bed again.

Tomorrow is the big day, the day I become a predator of the forest and hunt the wild beasts that roam therein.


End file.
